Entrepreneurs around the globe: Timo Steitz, Founder of ShoeSize.Me

"Being an entrepreneur is an act of balancing between persistence and responsiveness to changes"  

- Describe your start-up in three sentences.
ShoeSize.Me offers a solution that allows online shops to give their customers personalized shoe size recommendations. A simple plug-in integrated into the online shops enables online shoppers to find the right shoe size. This enables online shops to reduce returns and increase conversion rates.

- What inspires you as an entrepreneur in Switzerland?
ShoeSize.Me has its roots both in Switzerland and Barcelona. Switzerland is an excellent place to build up a company as it is an economically very stable country, where young companies can find the needed resources to build up their business (e.g. talents, know-how, incubators, financing, etc.). Barcelona is a very attractive location for young, skilled and entrepreneurial-minded talents. Barcelona has great and vivid entrepreneurial spirit that has helped us in many aspects. Most importantly, there is a huge number of potential clients in both areas. Operating in both countries has allowed us to learn about clients’ needs from different cultural and market perspectives.

- What is your greatest fear as a global entrepreneur?
I think a common fear as an entrepreneur is to do something wrong. As an entrepreneur you should however see this fear as a challenge. I believe that there is no “right" or “wrong". There is only “your way" and “not-your-way". The worst mistake you can make is to hesitate, procrastinate or even do nothing, because you fear to do something wrong. If you feel anxiety about something, then that something is exactly the thing you have to do.

- What do you wish you had known before founding your company?
Most things do not go as you plan them. You always have to have a concrete plan in mind, but you have to be ready to adapt at any time. Being an entrepreneur is an act of balancing between persistence and responsiveness to changes.

- What systems have you set up in your business to help it grow?
A hard focus on priorities, a clear division of duties as well as an efficient work and communication flows are essential if you want to move fast. Your team is a key asset to drive your growth. Over time we learned how we can work most efficiently as a team and are using a few but powerful key tools that allow us to drive our team working from anywhere at any time.

- What do you do on a daily basis to grow as a global entrepreneur?
Entrepreneurship is a never ending learning experience. I regularly take a moment for myself at a quiet place to reflect on past experiences, learn from them and then move forward.

- What should a global entrepreneur never forget?
Take action. I believe being an entrepreneur is all about taking action. You will do a lot of things that you never have done before and in most cases you will not even know how to do it. But by just doing the unknown, challenging tasks which you face day-to-day, you will start seeing things moving forward. Taking actions requires a lot of energy and you can only keep up this energy if you can constantly motivate yourself.

- What impact has ESADE had on your career as a global entrepreneur?
ESADE enforced my mind-set to be an entrepreneur, meaning to take actions and accept risks. It also gave me the needed infrastructure and support to develop my business idea in the very early phase. But most importantly, I got to know a great variety of interesting people during my studies at ESADE. And from each single one you could learn something new.

- What makes being an entrepreneur worthwhile?
Being an entrepreneur means to face new and unknown challenges every day. And with every challenge you take, you learn something about how your business works and also about you. I have gone through a steep learning curve and I am looking forward to learn more every day.